


The Ghost of Cybertron

by Zora_The_Dragon



Category: Transformers: Cyberverse
Genre: Aftermath, Decapitation, Denial, Experiment, Gen, Ghostscream, Immortal, Other, Starscream dies, aberrant spark, and becomes a ghost, and gets mild amnesia, dismembered body parts, extinguished spark, indestructible, invisible, judge - Freeform, redemption arc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24236173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zora_The_Dragon/pseuds/Zora_The_Dragon
Summary: Starscream dies but returns as a ghost and finds himself unable to use the AllSpark. Still intent on terminating everyone to stop any future wars from happening, he follows the Autobots and Decepticons around to find his body so he can return to life.As Starscream learns he can communicate with Windblade through her psychic shards, the Cityspeaker attempts to guide the lost Spark down a better path before the Seeker can return to life and resume his genocidal plans.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 40





	1. Consternation

**Author's Note:**

> This fic takes place at the end of Season 3 Episode 17 "The End of the Universe IV" and throughout the rest of the show and beyond.  
> Like everyone else, presumably, I was upset with Starscream's death and decided to do something about it.  
> While this is merely a fan fic, the show writer Mae Catt expressed how she wanted Starscream to get a redemption arc if he could emerge from the Judge alive, but as the alive thing seems impossible, I decided to do something similar but different.  
> I am calling upon the thing that makes Starscream unique from any other Transformer: his Spark.  
> Even if Starscream is dead, that does not mean he cannot get a redemption arc. Just not within the canon show.  
> So I will pick up from where we left off as the Autobots and Decepticons hold a truce and follow Starscream's journey as he will learn to use his newfound powers. Everything will go the same way as the show, to make it as realistic as possible.  
> I'm sure there are others out there trying to make their own redemption arcs for Starscream in Cyberverse, but this one is mine, and I hope you will enjoy it, and I hope you will find it to be a proper ending for Starscream, as the story progresses.

_"Once a Decepticon, always a Decepticon." That's how the old saying goes._

_But what if you're not really a Decepticon, nor an Autobot, nor really a Neutral either?_

_If you're fully committed to yourself, and ONLY yourself, what are you then?_

_Selfish? Egotistical? Self-absorbed? A coward? A traitor?_

_Alone. That's what you are._

_The loneliest bots don't realize just how lonely they are, not until no one sees them anymore._

_Some bots don't realize what they have..._

_...until it's gone._

_All gone..._

* * *

Starscream was excited. Very excited. Which was saying a lot, considering everything he had just been through.

He had just been riding a Titan for light years, who had seemingly been completely unaware that he had a passenger, as he casually flew through dangerous gas storms and passed suns with such close proximity, Starscream was surprised neither of them had melted down.

And this, just after he had been taken captive by the Autobots on the Ark, for many cycles since they left Earth and set course for Cybertron.

Starscream had managed to trick that naive Teletraan-X into allowing him access to a ventilation shaft, which he then used to escape his cell and find a door to the outside. Despite Teletraan-X's pleas for him to return to his cell, Starscream had ignored the system and went for his freedom.

Only, as he had gotten outside, he got caught in the slipstream of a colossal Titan named Croaton who had decided to take off to find his missing citizens. Starscream had caught on to the Titan without knowing where they were going or if he was ever going to land somewhere with Energon.

It wasn't that big of a problem though; Cybertronians could potentially go months or even years without Energon, though the latter would require going into stasis lock to conserve as much energy as possible. And during this little trip, Starscream definitely did not have the luxury of being able to choose stasis lock, so he just had to hold on to his Titan until they arrived where they were apparently going to go.

But then, after having blacked out from getting too close to a passing sun, Starscream had woken up to an approaching ship. At first he had been ecstatic, as he finally could get off that 'big tin-foiled turkey' as he called the Titan, but as it turned out to be the mothership of the malicious Quintessons, he was a lot less ecstatic.

The Judge, one of the leaders of the Quintesson race, had already decided to deem Starscream guilty, when the Seeker decided to make himself useful to the giant aliens.

To save himself, he had given the Quintessons information about the AllSpark's power and its whereabouts on Cybertron. That had definitely pleased the Judge, and as a reward for his usefulness, they had decided to give Starscream the highest power and honor one could get in his universe.

They had not told him right away what this power was, but they did tell him where he could find it. It was apparently in the lab on the lower levels. All he was told was that the Scientist would be waiting there for him, so he could give him his reward.

Because of his useful information, the Judge had allowed Starscream to walk the way to the lab alone. It was no trouble finding it, as there was only one room for each floor, and the lab was one of the bottom ones. Starscream would not be able to get lost even if he tried.

"I wonder what my reward is going to be!" Starscream said to himself as he was nearing the destined floor. "I hope they will give me power beyond what even the AllSpark gave me! Or at least let me have some of the AllSpark's energies so I can free everyone's Sparks and end this pointless war forever!"

Granted, he had already tried this once, but thanks to Optimus Prime and his Matrix of Leadership, the AllSpark had been ripped from Starscream's possession and knocked the Seeker unconscious. Next time he had woken up, he had found himself inside a cell within the Ark, welcomed by Prowl and the two-headed Autobot Rack'n'Ruin, who dared make fun of his not having the AllSpark's power anymore.

But oh, that had been such a wonderful experience. All that power, being able to hear everyone's beating Sparks, having the ability to remove and absorb those Sparks with just a flick of his finger... that had been more powerful than he ever imagined.

Now though, all that was gone. As were his Seekers, as they had been the first ones whose Sparks he had liberated from their bodies. Thundercracker, Acid Storm, Nova Storm, Thrust and many others. Not Slipstream, though, as she had escaped the missile silo they had been hiding in since Starscream had come back online from his beating by Megatron. He wondered if Slipstream had returned to the Decepticons, since it didn't seem she was with the Autobots?

"I will set everyone free," Starscream muttered to himself, as he reached one of the last floors. "And then everyone will be happy, everyone will become one. One with the AllSpark. And then _I_ shall join them, so there will forever be peace and joy. All Sparks will be happy and free and love me for everything I've done for everyone..."

This mantra went on for the rest of the journey through the remaining floors, until he reached supposedly the last level, which seemed to be the lab. As he entered, he fell quiet, and his excitement returned, renewed by his mantra and eagerness for new power.

 _Seems quiet,_ he thought as he looked around. _Too quiet, maybe. Is this where this Scientist guy is supposed to be?_

"Hello?" Starscream called with a joyful, squeaky voice.

As he walked through the room, he saw a large black sac-like thing hanging in the middle of the lab, if one could call it that, as there was seemingly no machinery or tools anywhere, just a lot of spikes sticking out of the floor. The sac was connected to both the floor and the ceiling by some vein-kind-of-things. The entire room was black, the only light coming from the countless red glowing rings and dots on the countless cables making out the walls and ceiling. Everything seemed kind of creepy with this weird techno-organic infrastructure.

"Welcome to my laboratory," an ominous voice sounded behind him.

Starscream turned around and saw to his shock a large Quintesson Scientist, single-faced and with a visible organic brain, protected by a glass bowl of some sort. It had several tentacles, six at least, from what Starscream could initially count, all mechanical but emitting strange squishy sounds as if they were organic. Like the room they were in, the Quintesson had several red bio-lights glowing ominously on his body.

The Scientist's face was the kind of face you wouldn't want to meet alone in an alley at night. He had an upside-down triangular face, silver and with a pair of large red eyes, one more dilated than the other, and his mouth was contorted into a wide, toothy grin, the canines longer than the others, but being blunt at the tips rather than sharp like fangs. Altogether, this gave the Scientist a maniacal expression and appropriately so.

Considering the general ruthlessness of the Quintesson race, a Scientist was the very _definition_ of a _true_ mad scientist.

The Scientist approached Starscream with his tentacles spread out, the three claws on each spreading out in open 'hands'. The looming presence of the Quintesson gave Starscream a bad feeling. He suddenly realized why he was in the lab and what was about to happen.

At first Starscream hadn't thought anything strange about being sent to a lab by himself. He thought maybe the Scientist would show him a device that would make him more powerful than anything in the universe or something. But now that he had looked around at the seemingly empty lab, he realized to his horror that the Quintessons had tricked him.

They were not going to give him power. They were going to _experiment_ on him.

"What?" Starscream exclaimed and took a step back, realizing he had just made a horrible mistake.

"Don't worry," the Scientist said with an eerily calm but malicious tone. "I will be gentle with your face."

Having nowhere to run or fly off to, trapped inside this enclosed space and with low energy levels, Starscream found himself frozen in fear and shock as the Quintesson approached him with its tentacles.

The tentacles shot quickly forward. Starscream lifted his arms in reaction to shield himself. He let out a scream as the tentacles grabbed him and lifted him into the air.

"No! Release me!" Starscream shrieked as he tried to struggle free but in vain. "What are you going to do to me?"

"You will become the most powerful creature in the universe," the Scientist explained as they approached the large black sac-thing. "Of course, you will have to share that experience with two others..."

Starscream stiffened and gazed into the sac but couldn't see anything. "Two others? What do you mean?"

"If you survive the procedure, you will see. Or, you will _hear_ , in any case."

They stopped just in front of the sac. The tentacles holding Starscream began pressing the Seeker against the outer wall of the black sac. It felt soft yet strangely solid. In some way, Starscream suddenly found himself inside the black sac. Only, on the inside, everything was piercingly red, and the bright color filled the Seeker with anxiousness.

Starscream turned his head the best he could to look around. He stiffened as he spotted a couple of decapitated heads, both organics, one being a Gray and the other of the Velgrox race, floating in some kind of preservation fluid, though seemingly without being conscious. Starscream had a _really_ bad feeling about this now.

"No," Starscream cried but found his words muffled by the fluid. He looked back to the wall of the sac as he saw several tentacles breaching the sac walls though without spilling out the contents. One of the tentacles turned into a chainsaw-like tool. Starscream's Spark skipped a beat.

"NO!" Starscream tried to shriek, but his screams were barely heard. "NO, RELEASE ME! I'VE CHANGED MY MIND! I DON'T WANT THIS POWER AFTER ALL!"

The chainsaw turned on, and while the sound was still muffled by the fluid, Starscream could clearly hear the rattling roar of the saw. As the chainsaw approached, Starscream began to panic and started struggling in the Scientist's grip again, trying desperately to get free.

"STOP!" Starscream screamed. "DON'T! I DON'T WANNA DO THIS ANYMORE! PLEASE, HAVE MERC-"

Starscream's scream was cut off as he suddenly began floating out of the Scientist's grip. Had he been released? Was he free? He felt strangely tired, barely able to keep his optics open.

Starscream only managed to keep himself awake long enough to slowly turn around a single time in the fluid... after which he laid eyes on his body in front of him, headless and limp. Not even being able to speak anymore, he silently fell into the world of darkness.

* * *

Starscream sat up with a start and a shriek. He looked around. He wasn't in the lab anymore. He looked down at himself. His body was whole and intact. He still had his head on. How else would he be able to turn and look around or look down at himself?

"It must have been a dream," Starscream mused and rose up. "What a horrible nightmare..."

He gazed from side to side. Something seemed off. "Where am I? Is this... Cybertron?"

Starscream found himself among rubble of unknown origin. As he looked up, he recognized the dark sky of Cybertron, a starless night. Tall buildings surrounding him were wrapped up in strange cables, dark and ominously familiar. They looked like the cables Starscream had seen in his dream.

Starscream emerged from the rubble and walked out into the street, looking around in an attempt to find answers.

"How did I get here?" he mused. "Last thing I remember is being in that cell on the Ark. When did we land on Cybertron? And where is everyone?"

Starscream wandered carefully through the streets of what seemed to be Iacon City, trying not to get spotted by anyone.

"Maybe I escaped," he muttered to himself. "Yes, I remember now. I escaped, before we landed on Cybertron. But how did I get here? Wasn't there a Titan or something? Maybe it took me to Cybertron with it..."

Starscream winced back as he rounded a corner and hid behind the wall. He had almost walked right into a large open area filled with Autobots and Decepticons, as well as a shuttle from which three Insecticons emerged together with the red Stunticon Dead End. In the middle of the two armies stood Optimus Prime and Megatron, the latter of who seemed to be missing his left optic and had horrible scars on his frame. What could have caused the warlord such injuries?

"Megatron," Optimus spoke, and Starscream listened closely to what they were saying. "You have saved Cybertron and our entire universe. We are all in your debt."

Starscream stiffened. Megatron, saving the universe? The Autobots being in Megatron's debt?

"I must have arrived in an alternate universe in some way," Starscream whispered quietly to himself. "There is no way the Autobots and Decepticons would make peace with each other."

After a while, Optimus continued: "How will you make us pay for it?"

That was more expectant. It seemed Optimus was just as surprised over his own words as Starscream was. What could have happened while the Seeker was unconscious? Hopefully they would talk about it.

"There may come a time where I call in this debt," Megatron replied with a gruff voice. "But for now, these are the rules: half of Cybertron is _mine_. You and your Autobots stay on _your_ half, or there _will_ be consequences."

"So be it," Optimus replied shortly after.

Starscream stared at the scene in disbelief. Were the Autobots and Decepticons really making peace? Were they ending the war? No, this was only a truce. Megatron said so himself, there would be battle if either side trespassed the other's territory. The war may have ended, but the conflict was still there.

"They can still start another war," Starscream mused to himself. "And all this pointless fighting will continue. I must find the AllSpark, so I can prevent any future wars from happening."

Only, where _was_ the AllSpark? Last thing he remembered, it was on the Ark, in the Autobots' possession. Had they perhaps returned it to its rightful place upon arrival? In the Well of All Sparks?

"Only one way to find out," Starscream mused and set off, reverting into jet mode, taking off into the sky.

As he made his way toward the entrance to the Well of All Sparks, Starscream felt strange. Normally while flying, he would feel a cold breeze brush his armor and a wind pressure pushing against his front. This time, he felt no cold, no pressure. He felt no subtle obstacles slowing him down as usual, and he felt as if he was flying faster than normal.

"No matter," he said to himself. "Probably just lost some weight from all that space travelling. Once I get to the AllSpark, there will be no more pain or fear. I will set Cybertron free forever."

Eventually Starscream made it to the entrance of the Well of All Sparks near the Sea of Rust and descended into the large hole without hesitation. Before long, he arrived in the planet's core, where he transformed and landed. Right in front of him was, as he had suspected, the AllSpark, floating in the air in the center of the chamber which made out the Well.

Starscream sighed and marveled at the sight of the glowing icosahedron. It had been years since he had last seen the AllSpark, which was when he had personally possessed it inside himself, before getting taken down by Optimus Prime and the Matrix of Leadership. He had known the AllSpark had been onboard the Ark but had not seen it himself. He had been a prisoner in the Ark for probably some years, before he seized an opportunity to escape, then to ride on a Titan for months before... something happened. His mind was blank after that. He only remembered riding the Titan for a considerably long time.

"Even with all the time that has passed," Starscream said, "I have never forgotten the AllSpark's brilliance. It is as I remember it. Marvelous. And now, it will be mine again."

Without hesitation, Starscream walked over to the AllSpark. He had not been in this place since the day he was created, like many other Cybertronians, certainly. It wasn't exactly a place bots just went to. Heck, Starscream wasn't even completely sure how he knew where the entrance to the Well was. There had just been some kind of map in the back of his processor that instinctively lead him to the Well of All Sparks.

Starscream shook his head, casting the strange thoughts away. It didn't matter how he knew where the Well was or where the AllSpark was, all that mattered was that he had found it and he was going to reclaim it. And then the Autobots and Decepticons would pay for everything they had done to him. Then he would return everyone to the AllSpark, himself included.

"Come to me, my precious..." he whispered and reached out for the AllSpark.

Starscream winced back in surprise as his hand bounced off the AllSpark. He stared between his hand and the AllSpark.

"What just happened?" he said aloud in confusion.

He tried to touch the AllSpark again, but he felt a strange force pushing his hand back, preventing him from touching the sacred implement. He tried reaching forward and press against the force, but no matter how hard he struggled, the tip of his fingers only came millimeters close to the AllSpark before getting pushed back. He snarled at the glowing object.

"How dare you reject me!" he screeched and tried to grab the AllSpark with both hands. He was once again pushed away by the invisible force. "Give me the power!"

Tired of getting rejected by the AllSpark, Starscream aimed his null-ray cannons at it.

"If I can't have the AllSpark, then no one shall!"

He clenched his fists and pulled the triggers.

Nothing happened.

Starscream hummed in confusion and tried firing his null-rays again. Still nothing happened.

"Stupid, useless null-rays," Starscream snarled and instead opened his abdominal plates to fire his chest-missiles.

Only, as he looked down, he found his missile-containers empty. He hummed louder in even bigger confusion.

"Where are all my weapons?!" he exclaimed. "Did someone strip me clean before I was left behind?"

Starscream shrieked in frustration and leapt forward, trying again to take the AllSpark, again getting pushed away. Only this time, as he collected himself again, he heard faint voices whispering en masse. There were so many voices that he only managed to understand a few of them.

_Futile..._

_He does not know..._

_Pointless..._

_No idea..._

_Give up..._

_Has not realized..._

_Not welcome..._

Starscream clenched his fists and shuddered. "SHUT UP!" he screamed.

The voices immediately stopped. Starscream let out a sigh of defeat.

"It seems I cannot touch the AllSpark anymore," he concluded. "The Autobots must have put some kind of safe code on it to prevent bots like me from possessing its power. Morons..." He thought for a while and then smirked. "But I bet the Guardian of the AllSpark can still access it. I must find him."

Delaying his plans for genocide for the time being, Starscream reverted back to jet mode and flew out of the Well again, through the same hole that he came in. Soon he was outside and in the skies of Cybertron once again. By now, Hadeen had begun rising in the horizon. He flew across the Sea of Rust, contemplating where he might find Cheetor, the Guardian of the AllSpark. He tried using his radar, but for some reason he couldn't track any energy signals, not even his own. He cursed his malfunctioning systems.

"Those two said Cybertron was to be parted into two, didn't they?" he asked himself, remembering Optimus and Megatron's conversation earlier. "Then I must find out where the Autobots are residing now. Then certainly I will find Cheetor."

Starscream returned to Iacon City, where he could see the residents were already beginning to rebuild the broken city. It seemed oddly built already though, as if they had already rebuilt the city once. How long had Starscream been out? And how long had he been down in the Well just now?

Starscream descended to the ground and landed in an alleyway, away from the sight of the working Autobots out in the street. While he didn't sport a Decepticon brand like the others, he was the former second-in-command to Megatron and was famous enough for everyone on Cybertron to instantly recognize him. Even if he wasn't a Decepticon anymore, he knew he was hated by both Autobots and Decepticons and would be welcome in neither's territories. He was all alone in this. Unless he could somehow convince Cheetor to help him. Not that the bot would help him terminate everyone, as he had already stated to be against the idea, but Starscream could probably work something out.

A movement caught Starscream's optics and caused him to hide behind some debris. An Autobot was taking a break from the work and decided to lean against the alley wall, away from the optics of the other working Autobots. Starscream smirked gleefully. This was perfect. He could interrogate this bot into telling him where Cheetor was, or at least where he might be.

Determined, Starscream stepped out from his cover and wandered over to the inattentive Autobot.

"You there," Starscream hissed as he approached the bot and pointed at him. "Tell me where the Autobot Cheetor, Guardian of the AllSpark is, and I shall let you live."

The Autobot didn't even look up. Starscream paused in his steps. Was he ignoring him? Ignoring _Starscream_?!

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Starscream hissed even louder and hiked his wings in offense. "Tell me where Cheetor is, or I will rip the Spark from your body!"

The only reaction Starscream got was the bot raising a hand to scratch his head. What was he even doing? He wasn't listening to any music, he didn't have any devices to look at, he just stood there and stared at the ground. Was he so deep into his own thoughts that he was tuning out everything around him?

"How dare you ignore _me_!" Starscream shrieked and stomped over to the insolent Autobot. "Look at me when I'm threatening you!"

The Autobot stretched out his arms and then crossed them, staring into the sky. Starscream could practically feel the smoke fuming from his audio receptors.

"You asked for it, Autobot," Starscream snarled and lifted a fist. "Maybe this will knock some sense into you!"

Starscream punched at the Autobot's face - and watched as his fist phased right through the other's head.

Starscream winced back in surprise. "Huh? What?" he exclaimed and looked at his hand, then at the bot. The Autobot was still staring at the sky, not even having a scratch on his face.

"What the frag?" Starscream said and approached the Autobot again. Instead of talking to him, Starscream simply reached out to touch the bot's shoulder. Just like before, his hand phased right through the other's armor. Starscream pulled back and took a step back.

"What in Primus' name is going on?" Starscream said and stared confused between his hands and the Autobot. Was he using a Phase Shifter or something? That must be it. That was the explanation. But then why didn't the bot hear Starscream when he spoke to him?

"Maybe he's deaf," Starscream concluded. "Then I must gain his visual attention."

Starscream walked in front of the Autobot and waved wildly at him. The other kept his gaze at the sky, not sensing the Seeker standing right in front of him. Starscream waved a hand right in front of the other's optics, but still there was no reaction.

"Maybe he's blind too," Starscream deduced and stepped away from the bot. "But wait, if he's blind, then why is he staring at the sky? And how is he leaning against the wall if he's using a Phase Shifter?"

Starscream decided this bot wouldn't be able to tell him anything, so he instead gazed out into the open street. There were many bots out there, even some whose names he knew. He could see Bumblebee, Hot Rod and Wheeljack among others. They were all helping with the building. Starscream studied all the bots out in the street. It didn't seem like any of them were Fliers. He could easily get away if he was spotted and attacked by any of them.

In a bold move, Starscream stepped out from the alleyway and walked into the open street, though stopped before he got too close to the Autobot crowd. He spread out his arms and took a deep vent.

" _Where is the Guardian of the AllSpark?!_ " Starscream shouted.

He looked around at the bots. No reactions. No one even looked up to see where the sound came from. Even Bumblebee and Hot Rod seemed as if they hadn't heard anything, and he knew for sure that _they_ weren't deaf nor blind. He saw them talk to each other as they passed by and looked at each other and laughed.

Starscream felt even more confused now. Confused and angry, that is.

"Hello?!" he yelled. "Did you hear what I said?! Look at me, Autobots!"

No one was looking at him. Fuming, Starscream stomped over to the crowd, no longer caring if he was entering the danger zone or not.

"How dare you all ignore me!" Starscream screeched as he entered the crowd. "It's me, _Starscream_! The one who will terminate _all of you_ , if you do not pay attention to me right now! _Look at me! STOP IGNORING ME!_ "

Starscream turned to his left and shrieked in surprise as an Autobot had approached him without his knowledge. But instead of knocking him over, the bot passed right through him. Starscream leaned back, thinking he was about to fall down but then paused and rose back up as he processed what just happened.

"What the..." he mused and stared after the Autobot. "Did he... just pass through me? He can't be using a Phase Shifter too, can he? Phase Shifters aren't all that common, after all..."

Suddenly, another bot came into his vision from behind, this one also passing through the Seeker's body. Starscream screamed in surprise and jumped to the side.

"What the frag is going on here?!" Starscream shrieked. "Can any of you see me?! Can any of you _hear_ me?!"

No one seemed to pay any mind to Starscream, neither his visible or audible presence. Something was wrong here, something was clearly wrong here.

"Hello?" he tried, but no one paid any attention to him. He hummed in confusion and looked around for someone he knew. He spotted Bumblebee over by a structure delivering some beams to rebuild something. Starscream walked determined over to the smaller Autobot.

"Bumblebee, you can see me, right?" Starscream said as he stood right beside Bumblebee. "You can hear me, right?"

"Yes," Bumblebee said.

Starscream felt a strange surge of relief wash over him. "Finally, someone who-"

"Yes, Hot Rod, we can visit Maccadam's later, but after we've delivered enough of these beams."

Starscream's Spark skipped a beat and he stopped. The relief he had felt before disappeared immediately. He looked around but didn't see Hot Rod anywhere. Bumblebee must have spoken to him over the comm. Starscream felt an idea springing to mind.

"Of course, maybe the comm. will work," Starscream said and tried opening a communications link with Bumblebee, or anyone for that matter. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

But Bumblebee still didn't hear anything. In fact, Starscream couldn't even hear his own comm. work. He had a very bad feeling about this. He walked over to the structure that was getting build, using iron beams and apparently had glass windows, perhaps a building of some sort. Starscream stopped and had a sinking feeling as he looked at the structure.

The windows were so clear and shiny that they gave clear reflections of the passing bots and the street surrounding them. Starscream saw Bumblebee's reflection and the beams he was carrying, but as the Seeker stared ahead, in the spot where he was supposed to be... there was nothing. No one.

Starscream wasn't there. He couldn't see himself.

"No," Starscream whispered. "No, this can't be."

Starscream looked down at his hands. He could clearly see his own body, but not his reflection. Now that he looked at his hands again, however, he noticed something new. As he moved his hand around, he observed as he could see the structures through his hand. His body had become transparent, the colors only faintly noticable by him now, and apparently invisible to everyone else. Furthermore, as he looked at the ground, he saw that he was not even casting a shadow, unlike the rest of the bots surrounding him.

Having a feeling of dread hanging above his head, Starscream gazed between his hand and his body. Slowly, he reached for his cockpit... and watched as his own hand phased right through his own body. He felt cold, empty, and now he realized he couldn't even feel the ground beneath him. He pressed a foot against the ground and saw as it phased through the ground. He wasn't standing on the ground; he was hovering slightly above it.

"No..." Starscream whispered, which then turned into cries. "I... I'm... no..."

Starscream shuddered as he looked down at his hands and his body, his transparent body which phased through everything and which no one could see. He had no feeling in himself or his surroundings. No warmth, cold, no aching or stinging from past wounds. No reflection, even though he could see himself. Not even a shadow.

Starscream screamed out loud into the sky as the realization hit him.

He was dead.

His Spark had been extinguished.

No one could perceive him in any way.

And thus he was now more alone than he had ever been in his entire existence.


	2. Decision

"No, no, _no_ , _NO_ , I _can't_ be dead," Starscream cried and shook his head in disbelief. "That's _impossible_! If I'm dead, then why am I still here? Why am I not one with the AllSpark?"

Starscream took a few deep vents - for the effect rather than for function, as he could no longer breathe - and tried to relax.

"That's right," he said and chuckled in understanding. "I can't be dead if I'm not one with the AllSpark. I must be in some kind of alternate dimension. Yes, that must be it. That must be why no one can perceive me and why I can't touch any of them, including the AllSpark itself..."

Starscream's smile fell as he looked down at himself again. "But that still doesn't explain why I can't touch _myself_ ," he muttered concerned. "Maybe someone installed a Phase Shifter into me before dropping me off into this alternate universe."

Starscream's chuckling returned. "That's it, that must be the reason," he said relieved. "Yes, I'm not dead, I'm just trapped in an alternate universe with a Phase Shifter in my body! Now it makes sense!"

Starscream's smile fell once again as another concern filled his mind. "But then why didn't I phase through the AllSpark? It rejected me, it didn't even let me _try_ to touch it... and it also doesn't explain why I don't have a shadow..."

Whenever Starscream thought he had the answer for one question, more questions popped up to contradict his answer. He tried to hold his head to gather his thoughts, but he couldn't feel himself, and his hands just went through his own head.

"I'm not dead, I'm not dead, I'm not dead," he chanted in denial. "I am _not DEAD_!"

An idea popped into his mind. "Maybe I just need to retrace my steps," he suggested. "If I can go back to the place where I woke up, I might find a clue as to what happened to me. Yes, I'll do that."

Out of habit (and denial), Starscream reverted to jet mode to fly to the spot where he remembered waking up. As he reached the ruins which he knew he had woken up in, he reverted back to bot mode and took a look around. The only other bots present than himself were Hot Rod and Kup. Starscream hummed in confusion, remembering Hot Rod had just been a few blocks and streets away, walking with Bumblebee a little while ago. Then again, the red bot had disappeared without a trace while Starscream hadn't been looking. Maybe he was just really fast.

Starscream tried to ignore the Autobots, knowing that for whatever reason, they couldn't perceive him, and wandered among the rubble, trying to find clues. Which was hard, as he couldn't touch anything, thus he couldn't turn anything over to look for clues. Not to mention that the Autobots' conversation was distracting.

"Did you hear, Kup?" Hot Rod said excitedly. "Clobber said she's going to join _our_ side!"

"Really?" Kup replied with a chuckle. "Sounds great! You two looked like you got along pretty well."

"Yeah, she's not really so bad, for a Decepticon. She's actually pretty nice and funny, and she was a great help during the whole Loop thing."

"Well, I'm happy for ya, kid. And for her, too."

"I think she's gonna miss her old pals, like Lockdown, though. Hey, what's this?"

Starscream looked over at Hot Rod as the latter waved over Kup. The Seeker walked over, curious as to what had caught the Autobots' interest.

"What is it, Hot Rod?" Kup asked. "Found something interesting?"

"You bet," Hot Rod replied and moved some rubble aside. "Whaddya think?"

Starscream moved over to see what the bot had uncovered. As Hot Rod pulled it out, Starscream grasped his head and screamed in horror.

What Hot Rod was holding was nothing other than Starscream's torso. _Just_ the torso. There were no arms, legs, wings, waist, head or even _cockpit_ attached to it. But the white and red color-scheme was recognizable enough to identify the torso as his.

As much as Starscream wanted to deny it, all the evidence had been presented to him, this being the hardest evidence of all.

"I'm dead..." he whispered and would cry if he had any tears to shed. "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm _dead_... but why? How the _frag_ did this _happen_ to me...?"

The Autobots first looked shocked at the torso. Then Kup started _laughing_.

"Looks like they really did a number on him before they put him in that Judge body, huh?" Kup said, still chuckling. "Serves that traitor right."

Starscream stared at the old bot in disbelief. His horror was soon turned into fury.

"How dare you, you old crankcase," Starscream hissed and punched at Kup's face, only for his fist to phase through. He shrieked in frustration as he continued punching through Kup in anger, despite knowing it was no use.

"What do you think we should do with it?" Hot Rod asked, his shock having also quickly dissipated.

"I say we melt 'em down and use the metal for materials," Kup replied.

Starscream stopped his vainless attacks and felt his Spark clench at the suggestion. "No!" he screeched. "You are _not_ melting my body!"

"We could also use it as spare parts," Hot Rod suggested. "In case someone needs a torso. Or a wing, or an arm or something. Maybe there's more of him around here."

Starscream felt a slight surge of relief which was quickly washed away and replaced by anger. "You are not using me for spare parts either!" he snarled. "Leave my body alone!"

"Really? Spare parts?" Kup questioned. "Who'd want to use Starscream's spare parts? I don't think anyone wants to associate themselves with him anymore, not even the remaining Seekers, not after all he's done to us and Cybertron. Not after he sold us out to the Quintessons."

Starscream stiffened in surprise. "The Quintessons?" Starscream repeated confused. "What? I've never met the Quintessons before! What are..."

Suddenly, the memory of his nightmare flashed before his eyes. Him, getting captured by the Quintessons, taken by the Scientist and having his head cut off... Had the Quintessons done this to him? Were they the ones who killed him? Had they mutilated his body like this?

"Come on, at least he'd be doing _something_ good for _someone_ ," Hot Rod protested with a smile.

"So would he by getting melted down," Kup countered. "And we'd never have to think about him again either, not if we don't tell them where the metal came from."

"You know that's wrong, Kup," Bumblebee's voice sounded from behind them, making everyone turn around, Starscream included. "We're not using Starscream for materials _or_ spare parts."

Again Starscream felt a strange surge of relief from Bumblebee's words. "Finally, someone who can actually _think_!" Starscream said in exasperation.

"Well, what do you suggest we do with him then?" Kup asked with crossed arms.

"We should bury him," Bumblebee suggested. "Just like we'd do with any other dead Cybertronian."

"Starscream's no Cybertronian," Kup protested. "Not anymore. He gave that up the moment he joined with those pesky Quintessons."

"Hey, why don't we let Optimus decide what to do with him?" Hot Rod suggested. "We _are_ dealing with a dead bot here, and he _was_ a pretty big deal. Prime will know what to do."

Kup sighed. "Fine, call Prime and we'll sort this out," he replied. "At least he's gone now. That's what's most important."

While Hot Rod was calling Optimus, Kup returned to the rubble. Starscream stood and fumed, glaring at the old bot. "That old fool will be the first to go when I... I..." Starscream paused and fell in deep thought. "Hold on, if I really am dead, why can't I join with the AllSpark, let alone touch it? Why wasn't I sucked into it when I reached out for it...?"

"Are you okay, Bee?" Hot Rod asked after having put Starscream's torso down on the ground, while Kup was looking for more parts.

Bumblebee looked saddened at the torso. "I don't know," Bee replied quietly. "I had just kinda hoped he could face justice while he was alive. That's why I saved him back in the cave, you know."

Starscream gazed back at Bumblebee in surprise and felt as his fury calmed a bit. Bumblebee saved him? From what? The Autobot had saved the Seeker's life?

"Yeah, I know," Hot Rod replied. "We were all pretty shocked when Teletraan-X told us Starscream had escaped from the ship and disappeared without a trace. To think that he was with the Quintessons for all those decades until now..."

Starscream stood for a moment and thought on the information he had just been given. So he had been captured by the Quintessons, experimented on and then turned into a 'Judge', whatever that was. And apparently he had betrayed Cybertron that way?

"Ridiculous," Starscream snarled. "They must be lying. I'll find out what really happened, even if I have to use a cortical- oh wait, I'm dead, I can't touch anything, and my systems won't work, so why would a _CORTICAL PSYCHIC PATCH?!_ "

Starscream took a few deep vents to calm down before returning to his thinking. "So I can't join the AllSpark," he repeated thoughtfully. "And I was already killed by Megatron once before and returned to life as well. Maybe I have special powers or something, like that Cheetor."

A thought sprung to mind. "Maybe I have some kind of special Spark that allows me to return to life after meeting with the AllSpark," he theorized. "But then why did I end up as a ghost now? Is it because my body isn't whole? Last time, my body was still whole, maybe that's why I could return to it just fine..."

Starscream smirked as a plan formed in his mind. "Yes, if I can get my body put back together, I could return into it," he mused. "And then I would be able to use the AllSpark again, and I could set everyone free. Yes, that must be what my purpose here is. I was given this power for a reason. I am supposed to terminate everyone and send their Sparks back to the AllSpark."

The more he thought, the more extreme his imagination became. "I am... the angel of death. Yes, that must be what I am. The harbinger of death, that's my purpose. And for that purpose, I was given a powerful Spark that cannot be destroyed. Why else would the AllSpark reject my Spark? Because I haven't fulfilled my destiny yet!"

Starscream laughed merrily at the thought. Finally he knew his place in this universe. It was as he had thought all along, ever since regaining consciousness on the Earth's moon after his beating by Megatron. Before he could join the AllSpark himself, he had to liberate _everyone else_.

And to do that, he needed to get back into his body. And for that to happen, his body would have to be reassembled.

"Well, come on, let's get ready for Optimus to arrive," Hot Rod said encouragingly to Bumblebee, who nodded in response.

Starscream observed as the two younger bots started looking through the rubble for more parts of the Seeker. Every now and then, one of them would announce having found a part, such as a hand or a shoulder, before putting the part beside the torso, like some kind of disturbing jigsaw puzzle. Starscream felt his Spark clench every time one of them found a body part and hissed if they got too careless with the part, especially when Kup simply tossed one of his wings over his shoulder and it landed near the pile.

"Careful, you old fool!" Starscream exclaimed. "That's my _body_ you're handling! I need it to be _intact_!"

It took well over ten minutes before Optimus Prime arrived at the scene. By that time, sixteen parts of Starscream had been found and placed among the pile; his torso, his waist, his upper arms, his lower arms, his thighs, his lower legs, both feet, a hand, a wing and his shoulders. Starscream felt appalled by how many parts his body had been severed in. He wasn't the only one.

"Scrap, they really went at him, didn't they?" Hot Rod commented as he placed a shoulder beside the rest of the body. "Must've been awful."

"Well, he got what he deserved," Kup said without looking up from the rubble. Starscream hissed at the comment.

"Did he, though?" Bumblebee replied as he placed the wing beside the other parts. "I wouldn't want to end up like this."

"He tried to end our universe," Kup pointed out. "I hope they made him suffer at least this much."

Starscream was about to launch another pointless attack on Kup when the bots heard an engine from behind them. As they turned around, Optimus reverted to bot mode and stood right in front of them.

"I am here," Optimus announced. "What seems to be the... problem?"

Prime paused as his gaze fell on the dismembered body of Starscream, still missing its head, right wing, left hand and cockpit. An uneasy expression made its presence on the Prime's face.

"Is that... Starscream?" he asked, sounding as disturbed as he looked.

"Pretty certain, sir," Kup replied and moved away from the rubble along with the other two. "The colors and build match anyways."

"They must have done this to him before they put him in that Judge body," Hot Rod explained. "And they really went at it, too."

"I can see that," Optimus replied, studying the body. "Is there another reason you called me here?"

"Yeah, we're not really sure what to do with him," Bumblebee said. "Kup says we should melt him, Hot Rod wants to use him for spare parts. I think we should bury him. What do you think we should do?"

Optimus thought in silence for a while to consider his decision. Starscream stared at the Prime with anticipation. Depending on his decision, the Seeker would either have to kill him sooner or later.

"I think..." Optimus drawled out. "... I agree with Bumblebee. He should have a funeral, just like everyone else who lost their lives in the recent events."

Everyone stared at Optimus in shock, including Starscream. He had been almost certain Prime would just toss his body away like everyone else would.

"I still have to kill you," Starscream said and crossed his arms, the best he could without phasing through. "But fortunately for you, I _might_ make it a painless procedure. Megatron will still have to suffer though. He will be the last one, so he can watch everyone succumb around him, and know that all he can do is tremble in fear as he awaits his turn. Yes..."

"You serious, Prime?" Kup asked in disbelief. "After everything he's done to us? To Cybertron?"

"Starscream is already dead," Optimus pointed out. "He cannot atone for his sins anymore. And by the looks of it, he has suffered enough already."

Optimus nodded at the dismembered body parts. Despite being dismembered, the parts were surprisingly intact, considering that they had been trapped under tons of rubble. And the parts had been cut very evenly at the joints and would probably not be too difficult to put back together. Despite what he had done to the Seeker, the Scientist had been very careful with Starscream's body. Then again, he might have only been dissecting him to see what made him and his race tick. Naturally he couldn't damage such an important specimen.

"Very well," Kup replied with a sour nod. "I suppose you're right, Prime."

"Then let us collect the rest of him so we can get it done," Optimus said.

Now Optimus had joined the three other bots in searching the rubble for the remaining body parts of Starscream. It took much longer than with the other parts, naturally, as there couldn't be that much left. Soon, though, Hot Rod announced having found the other hand, while Kup found the second wing. After about half an hour, Optimus found the cockpit.

"His parts are strangely intact," Optimus noted as he placed the shiny amber-colored cockpit among the other eighteen parts. "Even the cockpit glass is unscathed. Strange..."

"Anyone have an idea where the head might be?" Bumblebee asked as they gathered around the almost complete Starscream puzzle.

"Last I saw it, it was still on that Quintesson Judge body," Kup replied.

"Megatron and I unleashed our Matrixes' powers on him," Optimus said quietly. "He vanished without a trace."

"Maybe it got vaporized," Hot Rod speculated. "Blown to bits."

Starscream felt his Spark clench uncomfortably again. The other bots fell silent for a moment.

"In that case, there is nothing more we can do," Optimus decided. "We will have to do with what we have found."

Starscream scowled at the bots and the headless, disassembled body of his. Why did it have to be his _head_ of all things that was missing? A hand he could live without. Maybe even a wing, as bad as that thought was. But without a head, there was no way his body would be functional again, just as if his torso had been missing. His nervous system would not be able to work without a head, meaning he wouldn't be able to do anything, neither would he be able to see, hear or sense anything either. Without the head, this body was useless.

"My head must still be intact somehow," Starscream mused to himself. "It has to be. I must look for it. At least the rest of my body will be safe when buried."

"So where do we bury him?" Hot Rod asked, catching Starscream's attention.

Optimus crossed his arms in thought. "Tradition dictates a bot must be buried in the city they originate from," Optimus said.

"Well, where did Screamer come from?" Bumblebee asked.

"I think, Vos, maybe?" Hot Rod said uncertain and looked between Optimus and Kup.

"You got it right," Kup said. "All the Seekers come from Vos. Beautiful city, it was. Until it got blown to bits by Tarn, that is. At the same time as Tarn got blown to bits by Vos. They didn't like each other very much."

"Is Vos getting rebuilt too?" Bumblebee asked.

"Maybe," Optimus said uncertain. "Unfortunately Vos is located on the Decepticons' side of the planet, just as Tarn is. And with the new rules, we cannot simply go to Vos and bury Starscream's remains."

"So what, we just call Megatron and ask if he'll take the body?" Kup asked with traces of sarcasm.

"Like old Buckethead will do him that honor," Bumblebee said. "He hates Starscream, no way will he see to his funeral."

"Perhaps not," Optimus mused. "But we have no other choice. Megatron will have to accept him, or we will have to break tradition and bury him on our grounds."

Starscream snorted for effect and crossed his arms. "Hurry up already," he snarled at the bots. "The sooner you get this done, the sooner I can go look for my head!"

Granted, he could just go look for his head now, but he didn't trust the Autobots with his body until he was sure they wouldn't go back on their word. He needed to see where they were going to take his body and make sure they didn't harm it more than it already was.

"I will go get my trailer," Optimus announced and initiated truck mode. "So we can transport him."

With that, Prime took off, leaving the remaining bots behind. While waiting, the three Autobots continued rummaging the rubble, perhaps to check if the head was there after all, or perhaps just to see if there was anything else interesting there. In any case they slowly cleared the site to be available for construction.

Starscream wandered between them - or rather, hovered slightly, as he began to test out his new abilities as a ghost. So far, he only knew he could phase through things and hover, as well as being invisible and apparenly also inaudible to those around him. He speculated if he could do more.

"Perhaps it would be a good idea to find out what this spectral form can do," Starscream mused as he hovered a bit more into the air and initiated a sitting position, right above the bots' heads. "Just in case. There could be more to this form than meets the eye, after all. All I have to do is find out what that is."

It didn't take long before Optimus Prime returned, trailer towed in the back. Before transforming, Optimus turned 180 degrees so he could easily drive out again. As he transformed, he opened the back of the trailer so they could load it. Together, the four Autobots began hauling the many body parts into the trailer, Optimus and Bumblebee more careful than Hot Rod and Kup were. Starscream fumed at the sight of the latter two just tossing a wing or a leg into the trailer without consideration.

"Have some respect for the dead!" Starscream hissed. "You are _so_ going to pay for this..."

He was relieved that at least Prime and the Scout were considerate enough to carefully place his cockpit, shoulders and torso among others into the trailer. At least they knew it was important to respect the dead, whether to be nice or because they didn't want to invoke his wrath. Probably the former. After all, cases like Starscream wasn't really common.

When Sparks extinguished, they just went to the AllSpark and that was that. As far as Starscream knew, there had never been a case like his before, where an extinguished Spark turned into a ghost. Then again, if all ghosts became invisible and inaudible like he currently was, that would explain why no one had documented it yet. Maybe there were more ghosts like Starscream somewhere on Cybertron, unable to join with the AllSpark too? Perhaps he should do a bit of investigation once his body had been safely stored away.

Before long, all the body parts had been loaded into the trailer, and Prime closed it again, after making sure they had gotten everything.

"So where will you be taking him for now?" Bumblebee asked.

"I will hold onto his remains until I can contact Megatron and talk things out," Optimus said. "Hopefully we will be allowed to transport him to Vos before the wall gets completed."

"I noticed they've already begun setting it up," Hot Rod informed. "Not enough that it can block out anything yet though."

"We did just make the decision on the borders a few hours ago," Kup pointed out. "It takes a while to set everything up."

"Keep up the good work here," Optimus said and reverted back to truck mode. "I will take care of Starscream from here on out."

Optimus connected with his trailer and started rolling out. Starscream briefly glanced at the three others to glare at Kup before he set off to follow after Prime.

Now that he knew he was dead, it felt pointless to transform anymore. Even his jet boosters were useless, he simply moved effortlessly in the air with nothing to stop him. Not even the pressure of wind. So he easily flew through the air and kept up with Prime's speed without effort. So far, being a ghost seemed to have its advantages.

"Let's see," Starscream said to himself while absently following Prime by sight. "I have invisibility, inaudibility, I am untouchable, thus nothing can harm me, but I also can't harm anyone, and I can now move faster than any living being in the universe. Fitting, as I am not even living anymore," he chuckled by the pun, then shook his head to get back in focus. "This can't be all I can do. One does not simply become a ghost without a reason. I can do more, I can feel it. I must find out what else I can do, no matter how long it may take. And considering I'm dead, I have plenty of time to find out."

Soon Optimus stopped by a building that apparently made out the Autobots' new headquarters in Iacon. Starscream wondered where the Ark was, as that had served as their base up until now. Then again, the Ark was a ship, and now that everyone was back on Cybertron, it only made sense to have a settlement for a base rather than a ship. They probably weren't planning to leave Cybertron again anytime soon, after all.

Optimus drove into a garage of some sort and reverted back to bot mode, leaving his trailer parked there. Prime himself continued through a hallway, Starscream following him close behind, until they arrived in a command center of sorts. They certainly had worked swiftly with reestablishing their facilities and setting up equipment for various functions since the apparent battle with the Quintessons - and, seemingly, Starscream as well. Starscream wanted to keep an eye on his body, but at the same time he wanted to know what Megatron would say to Prime's proposition, so he decided to trust that nothing would happen to his body while kept inside Prime's trailer.

In the command center stood Grimlock and Chromia by each their own monitors, seemingly searching for something. Starscream couldn't care less, all he focused on was Optimus making his way to his own monitor to call Megatron.

"Hi Optimus," Chromia greeted upon the Prime's entry.

Optimus nodded his greetings. "Have you found any trace of Windblade yet?" he asked.

"No," Chromia replied somberly. "But we'll keep trying. She's gotta be okay, I just know it."

"Calling someone?" Grimlock asked as Prime began typing by his monitor.

"Yes," Optimus replied. "Megatron."

The two other bots briefly looked up from their own work to gaze at their leader in confusion.

"Megatron?" Chromia replied. "Why are you calling him?"

"We have a... situation," Optimus simply replied. "Of Decepticon matter."

"What kind?" Grimlock asked.

Before Prime could answer, the monitor opened a video link to the Decepticons' command center. Megatron's image popped up on the screen, just as scarred and one-eyed as Starscream had last seen him. Starscream could just catch a glimpse of Soundwave and Dead End behind Megatron, in the background.

" _Yes, what is it, Optimus?_ " Megatron asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Megatron," Optimus greeted. "I hope I am not interrupting anything?"

" _You kind of are,_ " Megatron replied. " _But nothing important. What do you want?_ "

"We..." Optimus paused for a moment, unsure how to explain. "We found Starscream's body this morning."

Both Autobots and Megatron's faces expressed surprise, though Megatron only widened his eyes for a moment, while Grimlock and Chromia both looked at each other. Unbeknownst to them, Starscream hovered above their heads and waited for Megatron to speak.

" _Oh,_ " Megatron said after a moment of silence. " _And what does that have to do with me?_ "

Optimus looked slightly surprised at his question. "He used to be your second-in-command," Optimus pointed out. "And Vos is on Decepticon ground. I wanted to ask you if you could allow me to transport his body to Vos so he can be buried."

To Starscream's confusion, Megatron cracked a smile on the screen. " _How thoughtful of you, Prime,_ " Megatron replied with a hint of a chuckle. " _Considering everything he's done lately. You really do care about everyone, don't you?_ "

"Every sentient being deserves to be put to rest when their lights go out."

" _Even mad ones? Even ones that tried to destroy our universe?_ "

Starscream couldn't help but feel hatred for Megatron, hatred for everything he had done and everything he had said. And for what he was saying right now.

"I will rip out your Spark _so_ hard," Starscream hissed and approached the monitor threateningly, "and so _slow_ and so _painful_ that you will beg for mercy, _beg_ for my forgiveness, _beg_ for-"

Starcream phased through the monitor - but instead of finding himself on the other side of the wall, he instead found himself face to face with Megatron himself. Starscream let out a shriek of surprise and winced back. Now he was back in the Autobots' command center. He looked between the monitor and the room in confusion, tuning out their conversation.

"Did that just happen?" Starscream asked himself.

Curious, Starscream approached the monitor again and stuck his head into the screen. He peeked out on the other side, again looking at Megatron's face and the Decepticons' command center. Starscream chuckled and moved the rest of his body through, arriving completely on the other side of the link.

"What a convenient way to travel," Starscream cackled. "This ghost thing is awesome! I can't wait to see what else I can do!"

"Very well," Megatron said, and Starscream turned around to look down at his former master with contempt. "I shall allow you to drop by with his corpse. But you are not entering my side of the planet. Go to the northern border between section 22 and 23. Skywarp will await your arrival, and the Seekers shall take care of the rest."

" _Understood,_ " Optimus replied on the other end of the comm.

Before any of them said goodbye, the monitor went black, turning the comm. link off. Starscream stared at the black screen for a moment. Then he felt his Spark clench.

"Wait..." he said and approached the monitor, his smile falling.

He tried going through the monitor... but instead of the Autobot command center, he only phased through the wall to the outside. He winced back in surprise.

"No," Starscream said and held his head, no longer caring if he phased through himself or not. "No, no, my body! Now I can't tell if they're treating me with respect or not! What do I do?"

"Skywarp," Megatron said, apparently speaking on his own comm. Starscream turned his attention to the warlord.

" _Yes, Lord Megatron?_ " Skywarp's voice sounded faintly on Megatron's comm.

"Take a squadron of Seekers with you to the northern border, at section 22 and 23," Megatron replied. "Optimus Prime has a delivery for you."

" _Delivery? What kind of delivery?_ "

Megatron chuckled lowly, much to Starscream's annoyance. "You will see."

With that, Megatron ended the comm. Starscream snarled.

"You couldn't be just a _little_ more informative?" the ghost hissed. "Now I have to find out where Skywarp is! Or at least where this northern border is. Probably in the north, of course, but _where_ in the north? Wait, they didn't agree on a set time, did they? How do I know when they will get there? I have to find this place before they meet!"

"Are you really okay with letting the Seekers handle this, sir?" Dead End asked. "I mean, I don't care about Starscream or anything, but they _are_ meeting with the enemy. And _Skywarp_ is leading the Seekers now, of all bots."

"Skywarp is more capable than you think, Dead End," Megatron replied. "At least, I suppose so, given that Starscream gave her control of the Seekers here on Cybertron when we left. Skywarp will be fine."

"You said Slipstream was fine too," Soundwave said. "And she turned on us like the rest of the Seekers on Earth. Good thing Bludgeon took care of her."

Starscream stiffened by the notion. "What?" he said in disbelief. "Slipstream is... dead? But she survived, how could she..." Starscream took a deep vent to calm himself. "No matter. She would have joined with the AllSpark with the others anyway. It doesn't matter who did it, all that matters is that she is with the AllSpark. She is free, just like everyone else. Like everyone else will. Skywarp included."

"Now that Starscream is gone, the Seekers remaining have no need to turn on us anymore," Megatron pointed out. "They were foolish to blindly follow him, even going so far as to betray me behind my back, choosing _him_ over _me_. And they paid the price for that. Starscream could not be trusted with anyone's lives, not even his Seekers'. They will be better off without him."

Starscream punched through Megatron's helm from behind, but as usual, his attacks were ineffective, and Megatron did not even have a clue that Starscream was in the room at the moment. After a while, Starscream ceased his pointless attacks and vented deeply in anger.

"One day you will pay, Megatron," Starscream snarled.

"Now, let us get back to business," Megatron announced.

Not interested in whatever they were going to discuss, Starscream exited the building through the wall and searched around in the street, trying to determine where he was.

"Kaon, maybe?" Starscream speculated. "In that case, I have to travel to the other side of the planet. But that should be no problem with my new power."

Starscream clenched his spectral fists and moved forward. Unhindered by wind, pressure, fatigue or weight, Starscream moved at the speed of light, finding himself at the other side of Cybertron within seconds. He stopped and stared in wonder, finding himself back at Iacon City.

"How convenient indeed," Starscream chuckled. "I really can move faster than anything in the universe now."

He looked around below him, scanning the area for anything big, red and silver. Within seconds, he spotted the red truck with the silver trailer towed behind it. Starscream chuckled and descended, hovering above Optimus as the Autobot made his way out of the city and headed towards the unfinished Autobot/Decepticon border.

"Time to go home," Starscream giggled. "Home to Vos!"


	3. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got a bit long, so I decided to split it in two.  
> Probably won't do that very often.

It took about fifteen or twenty minutes before Optimus and Starscream arrived at what was supposedly section 22 and 23 by the northern border. Now Starscream noticed the many columns set up in a row with about twenty or thirty mechanometers distance between each. Each column had three holes on two sides opposite of each other, presumably from which a force field was supposed to come out. Currently they were turned off, as it sounded like the bots hadn't finished setting up this 'wall' yet. It would be pointless to activate an unfinished wall, after all, as bots could simply walk around it. Starscream wondered if Fliers would be hindered in any way once it was finished.

As far as Starscream could see, each column currently had an Autobot and a Decepticon guard posted, each on their own sides, to make sure no one was passing through to the other side without permission. As Optimus Prime arrived at the border, the Autobot guards stood to attention.

"Optimus Prime, sir," one of the guards greeted with a salute. "Everything is peaceful here."

Optimus reverted to bot mode and nodded at the guard in greetings. "That is good to know," he replied calmly.

"If I may ask, sir," the guard by the other column said, "what are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"No need to worry," Optimus replied. "I am waiting for the Seekers to arrive here."

"The Seekers?" the other guard repeated confused. "What business do you have with the Seekers? Sir," he added quickly.

"Just... returning something of theirs," Optimus said quietly.

"Something?" the other guard repeated. As he saw the look on Optimus' face, the guard returned his gaze forward. "Well, you're the Prime. I trust you know what you're doing."

"Thank you," Optimus replied.

Starscream hovered above the bots' heads, going back and forth between the two halves of the planet. He checked the Decepticon guards on their side. They seemed to take little mind in the Autobots' conversation. Starscream looked at the sky, trying to see if he could spot any approaching Fliers. So far, everything was quiet.

"Well, considering I've just been on the other side of the planet, who knows where Skywarp might be at the moment," Starscream muttered to himself. "This could take a while."

It didn't take more than ten minutes or so before the sound of roaring jets could be heard from above though. Everyone looked up and saw seven Seekers flying in, reverting to bot mode and landing gracefully on their side of the border, between section 22 and 23, facing Optimus Prime and his trailer.

"Optimus Prime," Skywarp greeted. "Lord Megatron told me you had a delivery for us? What is it?"

Optimus took a step forward, only just staying on his side of the border. "He did not tell you?" Optimus asked.

"Tell me what?"

Optimus fell silent for a moment. "You know what happened yesterday, do you not?"

"Uh, yeah?" Skywarp replied slowly. "We were all at that parade, except it was an illusion of some sort, and then there were those Air Hammers, I transformed, and suddenly we were all in a weird dark place. And then it turned out to be the Quintessons, I think? And then it looked like they were gone, but then Starscream turned up as another Quintesson? Yeah, that was pretty freaky. But hey, at least we're all still alive."

"Not all of us," Optimus replied and gazed over his shoulder. "You are aware that Starscream is dead, are you not?"

"Well, duh," Skywarp replied unsurprised. "His head was blown out of the sky. I'd be surprised if he just walked out of that thing all okay."

"I have Starscream's body in my trailer," Optimus informed.

This seemed to take the Seekers, as well as the guards, both Autobot and Decepticon, by surprise. With a wing flick, Skywarp straightened up again.

"Uh, really?" she replied and reset her vocalizer. "That's, uh... I don't know. Why do you have it? Is this why you called us?"

"Yes," Optimus replied calmly. "We wished to bring his remains to you, so you could bring him to Vos and bury him there."

Again the Seekers acted surprised by the Prime's words. They gazed uncertain at each other, some flicking their wings uncomfortably. Starscream wondered what thoughts went through his former subordinates' minds.

"Uh, wow, really?" Skywarp said flabbergasted. "I, uh, that's really, um..." She reset her vocalizer again. "Uh... thank you, for the consideration, I guess."

Optimus went over to his trailer and pulled it forth a bit, bringing it as close to the border as possible, so that no one would have to cross the line.

"I must warn you," Optimus said before he opened the trailer. "He is not exactly in... one piece."

The Seekers gazed between each other in anticipation. As Optimus opened his trailer door, the Seekers looked shocked at the contents. Their wings flicked in discomfort over the sight of the dismembered body parts of their former commander. Starscream hovered above the Seekers' heads and gazed at his body. The parts still seemed intact.

"This is... a bit unexpected," Skywarp commented and briefly looked behind her. "I should have brought more Seekers."

"I can wait here if you want to call more," Optimus offered.

"No, it's alright," Skywarp replied quietly. "We'll be fine on our own. I just..." She fell silent for a moment, staring at Starscream's body parts. "We knew he was dead, of course, but to actually see his body... it just feels kind of surreal, you know? He just didn't seem like the type to die, not ever. I..."

"Take your time," Optimus said patiently. "You were once close, were you not?"

"I suppose you could say that," Skywarp replied. "First Thundercracker, and now Starscream... Pit, even Slipstream bit the dust. I'm the only one left of the old gang now. Well, aside from Dirge and Ramjet, but I ain't a Conehead, you know..."

A red Seeker placed his hand on Skywarp's shoulder. "Commander Skywarp, can we get on with this?" he asked. "As tragic as this is, you can always mourn more back in Vos and talk more at his funeral."

Skywarp hummed in thought. "I suppose you're right," she replied. "Now's not the time. Let's get him out, you guys."

Optimus stood (and Starscream hovered) and watched in silence as the seven Seekers began bringing out the nineteen parts of Starscream's body, having slightly disturbed looks on their faces while doing so. As more parts were placed on the ground in the same fashion as the Autobots had done when checking if all the parts were there, their faces turned more blank, gradually getting used to the fact that their former commander really was dead.

Barely two minutes had passed before all parts were out and on the ground. Skywarp looked between the remains and the interior of the trailer.

"Where's the head?" Skywarp asked confused.

"We were unable to recover it, I'm afraid," Optimus replied. "I'm sorry."

Skywarp sighed. "It's fine, I guess," she replied. "It probably got blown to bits by that Matrix blast anyway. This will have to do."

Starscream scowled at Skywarp by the notion. "You bots sure are quick to give up, aren't you?" Starscream snarled. "My head is fine, I know it!"

Skywarp gazed at Optimus Prime with a somber look. "Thank you for doing this, Prime," she said quietly. "I don't know what to say to this."

"You just did," Optimus replied calmly and gave her a soft smile. "I wanted to give him a proper ending. I will leave the rest to you. Thank you for your time."

Optimus turned his trailer around before initiating truck mode and reattached himself to his trailer and took off, heading back to Iacon, leaving the Seekers behind with the body of Starscream... and the ghost of Starscream, who now had no more reason to follow the Prime.

Skywarp turned away from the Autobot half of the planet and instead turned her attention to her Seekers and the remains on the ground.

"How are we gonna transport him, sir?" a cyan Seeker asked.

"I'm not sure," Skywarp replied. "Like I said, I should have brought more of you. We're not gonna be able to fit everything in our cockpits, we'll have to fly to Vos in robot mode."

"I'm sure you'll come up with a solution, Commander," a gray Seeker said with crossed arms. "This is the sort of thing you love, right?"

Skywarp huffed, perhaps holding back a laugh. "I'll figure this out. Let's see..."

Starscream watched as Skywarp held her chin, like she always did when she was thinking really hard. Starscream scoffed in amusement. It had been eons since he had last spent any real time with Skywarp. He had almost forgotten what she was like. Back before he joined Megatron's army, the two bots he had spent most time with had been Skywarp and Thundercracker, the latter of who was now deceased. Being the leader of the Seekers, he spent time with several other Seekers, including Ramjet, Dirge, Nova Storm, Slipstream and others, but Thundercracker and Skywarp had been his favorites to hang out with.

Skywarp was neither the brightest, strongest nor the fastest Seeker of his army. But she had the unique ability of teleportation, which had certainly caught Starscream's interest. And despite being a bit dimwitted at first impression, she had her own unique way of thinking and method of solving problems. A bit simpleminded, but at times she had proven smarter than any of the 'geekier' Seekers, such as Starscream himself. Starscream had found himself intrigued by her, though her teleportation was largely the main reason for promoting her to captain and looking after the Seekers on Cybertron while Starscream went off with Megatron to Earth.

Thundercracker had been a powerful and fast Seeker, but he too had not been the brightest Seeker in existence. Not that he had been stupid, but he had not always known when to be quiet nor had he been very good at understanding sarcasm and had been absolutely useless at bluffing. Despite having been one of Starscream's Trinemates along with Skywarp, Starscream did not appoint him captain, instead putting him under Slipstream's command with Nova Storm as his partner.

Slipstream had been a real gem among the Seekers. She had been smart, fast and strong, and she had been good at knowing when to lie, when to be quiet and when to endure painful insults from her superiors and save face. She had also been strict and good at commanding the troops. Probably why Megatron had decided to appoint her the new leader of the Seekers when Starscream had ignored Megatron's request for air support on the Earth's moon several decades ago.

Except Megatron had been completely out of line in that situation. Sure, the Seekers were part of Megatron's army, but ultimately, they belonged to Starscream. Or, at least, they _had_ belonged to him, while he was still alive. Megatron might have had the right to strip Starscream of his title as second-in-command, but to remove him from his position as leader of the _Seekers_... that had been the last straw for Starscream. And it was not just because he hated Megatron.

Leadership of the Seekers was a matter for the _Seekers_ to work out, not a Grounder, a _Tarnian_ for that matter, like Megatron! Megatron originated from the very city that destroyed Vos, even if he had not been the leader of Tarn. That honor had belonged to Shockwave, who most certainly had thought it unbearable to now work under one of his former underlings. Starscream had it worse, at least he liked to think that. To be the Winglord of Vos and have to serve under a mere gladiator like Megatron, from _Tarn_ of all places... it was one of the reasons why Starscream hated Megatron so much. And Shockwave, of course.

Which was why Starscream had decided that he had had enough with Megatron when he gave Slipstream the command of the Seekers, something only _Starscream_ had been entitled to do. Megatron had to be punished for that, and Starscream had rightfully done so. Unfortunately, Megatron had not understood Starscream's reason for punishing him, so naturally the warlord tried to kill the Seeker as he turned out to have survived Starscream's attack.

Luckily, either Starscream had survived the warlord's brutal punishment, or he had come back to life thanks to his powerful Spark. And thankfully, most of his Seekers had still been loyal to Starscream and followed his commands to steal Vector Sigma for him, going against both Megatron _and_ Slipstream's backs. Unfortunately for them, their reward for their loyalty had been the removal of their Sparks. Slipstream had been the only one smart and independent enough to flee the missile silo before she could share the same fate. Sadly, it seemed her life had still been taken, by Bludgeon of all bots. He had always been a creepy bot, that Bludgeon.

Starscream wondered how these Seekers felt about him now, even if he was dead. Skywarp had just revealed she knew about his killing of the Seekers on Earth, after all. Or, at least, she knew that Thundercracker was dead, as well as Slipstream. He wondered if they still looked up to him.

"It doesn't matter if they look up to me or not," Starscream said to himself. "They're going to join with the AllSpark either way. Everyone is. Whatever happens along the way has no meaning. We will all be free in the end. As long as they keep my body intact, I don't care what happens."

While they were waiting for Skywarp to finish thinking, the Seekers just stood there and gazed at each other, unsure of how to pass the time. They didn't want to disturb their commander, as that might only make the whole procedure take longer. They mostly just stared at the ground or the sky or at each other. Starscream just hovered above them, thinking about the past, not having much else to do.

"Alright, I think I have an idea," Skywarp finally said after a few minutes. The Seekers looked attentively at her.

Rather than saying anything, however, Skywarp instead began sorting the body parts into small piles of two or three. Two piles consisted of a hand, a lower arm and a wing; two other piles consisted of a thigh, a shoulder and a lower leg; one pile consisted of both upper arms and the cockpit; one pile consisted of a foot and the waist; and the last pile consisted of the other foot and the torso. In total, there were seven piles.

As Skywarp finished her strange organization of the body parts, she stood up and looked around at her confused Seekers. Starscream hovered silently above them, waiting for Skywarp to explain herself.

"We're each gonna take one of these piles and put the smaller parts in our cockpits," Skywarp finally explained. "And then we'll carry the bigger parts in our arms."

The Seekers looked from Skywarp to the piles to each other. "How, uh... how do we decide who should carry what?" a black Seeker asked concerned. "Some of those 'small' parts are pretty big..."

"I'll decide that," Skywarp said. "You'll take the right foot and the waist, by the way."

The black Seeker seemed to cringe at the notion. He looked down at the really big foot and the not-so-much-smaller waist. He sighed and took his pile, backing away from the others to begin loading himself.

"You," Skywarp said and pointed at the red Seeker, "will carry the right hand, forearm and wing."

The red Seeker looked down at his designated pile and nodded, seemingly relieved he got one of the easier piles. He grabbed his pile and stepped back to pack up.

"You," Skywarp said and pointed at the cyan Seeker, "will hold onto the other hand, forearm and wing."

The cyan Seeker nodded and eagerly grabbed his pile, also relieved to get a smaller load for his cockpit. The remaining Seekers seemed concerned about the remaining piles. Everyone hoped they wouldn't get the other foot.

"You," Skywarp said and pointed at an orange Seeker, "will take the right thigh, shoulder and shin."

The orange Seeker looked concerned at her designated pile but nonetheless went and got it, worried how cramped it was going to be in her cockpit. Skywarp moved on with her assignments.

"You'll take the other thigh, shoulder and shin," Skywarp said while pointing at a yellow Seeker who got to it immediately. "And you will have the cockpit and the remaining arms," she said to the gray Seeker, who picked up his designated pile.

The Seekers each packed themselves with the smaller parts they had been assigned, though even those who got the hands and forearms struggled to fit them inside. The black Seeker had decided to put Starscream's waist in his cockpit instead of the foot, as the foot was bigger than both the waist and the cockpit.

"And this means that I get..." Skywarp looked down at the last pile, which was hers. She cringed. "...the other foot and the torso."

The Seekers, now fully loaded and holding their bigger parts, looked both sympathetically and gleefully at Skywarp, as it seemed she had unwittingly given herself one of the harder loads.

"Wow, that's very generous of you, Commander Skywarp," the black Seeker said, relieved he had at least got the smaller waist. "Taking the harder labor yourself while giving us less."

"Uh, yes, that was my intention," Skywarp lied and gave a nervous smile. "You're such good soldiers, I don't want to give you a bigger burden than you can take..."

Starscream couldn't help but laugh at the scene. "Oh, foolish Skywarp," he said. "Everyone knows you should take the easy load for yourself first, so you don't end up with a situation like this. You never learn."

Instead of making a big deal out of it, Skywarp simply went to her pile and looked between the left foot and the torso. Both parts were about the same size, and Skywarp doubted she could fit the foot in her cockpit. How did she overlook this? Then again, there hadn't really been any other way to distribute the parts. No matter how she had thought about it, the end result would have been the same: painfully bloated cockpits.

Then again, these were just two body parts, and she would have to fly in bot mode anyway. Skywarp put on a smirk as a new idea popped into her mind.

Rather than trying to force the foot into her cockpit, Skywarp simply picked up both the torso and the foot, carrying them in her arms. The Seekers surrounding her lost their smirks and looked confused at her as she turned to look at them.

"Alright, let's take off!" Skywarp announced and activated her thrusters, setting off into the sky.

The Seekers stared speechlessly at her. "You tricked us!" the orange Seeker accused. "We're bloated here, and you-"

"Forget it," the red Seeker standing next to the orange one said and laid a hand on the other's shoulder. "Let's just go. The Commander has spoken."

The Seekers sighed and activated their own thrusters, setting off into the sky and followed after Skywarp, heading in the direction of Vos. Starscream followed after them and couldn't stop himself from laughing.

"Oh, how wrong I was to underestimate you, Skywarp," Starscream chuckled, flying beside Skywarp, who gleefully held onto the foot and torso with a smirk. "That is the best thing I've seen since I scrapped Megatron! Well, _thought_ I scrapped him, anyway, but the sight was awesome either way! I'm so proud of you!"

Starscream had wondered if Skywarp had grown out of her tendency to pranks since he left Cybertron. Apparently, she hadn't. She was just as unpredictable as she used to be.

Despite the Seekers' dissatisfaction of having been pranked and tricked by their commander, the trip to Vos went surprisingly quiet. Like the living Seekers, Starscream remained in bot mode. There was no point in transforming anymore if he couldn't feel the wind on his frame. Until he could get his body fixed up and get back into it, he decided he would refrain from transforming ever again.

Starscream wondered how Vos looked now, since the war was apparently over. For millions of years, the city had been nothing but mere ruins, as the war had left the Seekers unable to focus on rebuilding it. Considering how few Vosians were left, it was probably not yet anything to brag about.

After having flown for about fifteen minutes, the Seekers arrived at the ruins of Vos. As Starscream had suspected, it was nothing but mere ruins, but to his surprise the city was slowly beginning to get rebuilt. At least one building seemed to have been almost completely restored, and Starscream even recognized what building it was. It seemed to be the former city hall of Vos, where the Winglord had resided. In other words, Starscream's place.

As he gazed down at the bots working on the construction, Starscream noticed he could only see Seekers. Not surprising, as the destruction of Vos had taken many lives of its citizens. Those who had evacuated in advance had joined the Decepticons as Seekers under Starscream's command. The few survivors of the bombing ended up joining the Autobots, feeling betrayed by Starscream's siding with the destructive Decepticons. And now, these bots would be unable to return to their home city, thanks to the new borders. As a result, pretty much all the remaining Vosians alive currently present in Vos were the Decepticon Seekers.

Starscream followed Skywarp and the Seekers to a relatively flat area with several stones or plates sticking up from the ground. Starscream recognized it as the Vos Cemetery. Unlike most cities, Vos did not have catacombs to keep its dead in. Vos was a city almost exclusive to Fliers, and most Fliers did not like to stay inside small, dark enclosed spaces for very long. As part of Vosian culture, it was believed that if dead Fliers were buried underground, their spirits would not be able to fly freely like they did in life, so they had decided to bury their dead above ground, as close to the sky as possible. Starscream knew - from recent experience especially - that Sparks could travel through anything, thus unhindered by anything in their journey to the AllSpark. That said, he still preferred Fliers to be buried above ground than below, so he had kept up with that tradition during his rule as Winglord.

Skywarp and her squadron landed by the cemetery, and almost as soon as they landed, everyone opened their cockpits to pry their cargo out and lay it on the ground. Every Seeker but Skywarp vented deeply, relieved of their burdens. Skywarp just calmly put her two parts on the ground among the rest, a smirk still adorning her face.

"Alright, now what, Commander?" the black Seeker asked as he got Starscream's waist out of his own torso.

Skywarp thought for a moment while looking at the nineteen body parts. "Bring me a blowtorch," Skywarp ordered the black Seeker. "And go get a casket and some shovels. I'm gonna put him back together so it'll be easier to put him in."

"So no melting?" the yellow Seeker asked, which caused Starscream to cringe and hiss.

"Eh, no," Skywarp said. "I don't think he'd want to be melted without a head. Just in case it turns up some day, it would be better if the rest of his body is still intact."

Starscream stared surprised at Skywarp. "Why, you're reading my mind here, Skywarp!" Starscream cackled merrily. "I really did underestimate you! Perhaps I can make use of you in some way, at some point, once I figure out what and how..."

The Seekers dispersed and left Skywarp behind by herself with the remains of Starscream... and, of course, Starscream's ghost. Skywarp turned to the parts on the ground, and a strange smile appeared on her face. She knelt down and began arranging the body parts in the right order and by the right sections. Starscream heard her hum a cheery tune and felt slightly disturbed.

"Skywarp did always like a good puzzle," Starscream said to himself. "At least I'll get my body put back together without having to put an effort into telling anyone."

Within two or three minutes, Skywarp had placed all the body parts in their right spot and adjusted them to make the body look as whole as possible. A few minutes later, the black Seeker returned with a blowtorch and handed it over to Skywarp, who thanked him and told him to go inform the other Seekers of Starscream's funeral that was going to take place by sunset. She then got to work with sealing the body parts together.

Starscream hovered above and watched Skywarp first melting the cockpit onto the torso, then the hands onto the forearms, the forearms onto the upper arms and the upper arms onto the shoulders. Afterwards she melted the feet together with the shins, after which the shins were melted together with the thighs. Having finished with the limbs, Skywarp then turned the torso on its front so she could attach the wings onto the back. Once that was done, she carefully turned the torso back onto its back, making sure the wings wouldn't break and fall off from the movement.

Starscream smiled, observing how careful Skywarp was to neatly put his body back together. Now there were only six seperate parts instead of nineteen. Skywarp began with attaching the waist onto the torso, then she began working on putting each arm onto either side of the torso.

Hadeen was moving further down toward the horizon as Skywarp worked, her frame casting a long, black shadow on the ground. Starscream stood on the opposite side and gazed between Skywarp's shadow and the ground beneath him. It looked so wrong to not have a shadow himself. Even his spectral body did not have any shadows anywhere, looking more like an unfinished cartoon character than an actual living being. Even his cockpit was void of shade and highlight, being just a yellowish-orange oval thing on his chest. To think how much one could miss one's own shadow...

An idea sprung to mind. Starscream looked down at himself and his hands, then at Hadeen behind him and Skywarp's shadow in front of him. He then looked at the ground in front of him. He pictured his own image, how he looked when he stood with his back against the sun and cast his own large black shadow which would show his enemies below that he had arrived. He pictured that very shadow on the ground below him right now, trying to bring the image forth.

He didn't know if this would work; he didn't know what he was capable of, so he had to try anything he could come up with. Getting a shadow to appear seemed to make sense, right? If he could make his shadow appear, surely that would mean he could make himself visible or solid somehow, right?

He focused and concentrated, fixating on that mental image that only remained a mental image. Skywarp continued working, now having moved on to melting one of the legs onto the waist. The roar of the blowtorch made it hard for Starscream to concentrate on the ground, even harder to picture his shadow on the ground. After several minutes of blowtorching and about a minute of silence, the blowtorch began roaring again, bringing Starscream out of focus once again. He snarled in frustration.

"Be quiet!" Starscream hissed at Skywarp.

Skywarp paused her work and turned off the blowtorch. She looked up and around. "Huh?" she said confused. "What was that?"

Starscream stiffened and stared at her. "Skywarp?" he said. "Can you hear me?"


	4. Funeral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Other half of the long chapter, which I decided to split in two.  
> Might allow longer chapters in the future.

Skywarp stared in front of her, seemingly listening. After a few seconds she shrugged and returned to work with the blowtorch. "Must have imagined it," she said to herself.

Starscream slumped his spectral figure. "She heard me," he said to himself. "She heard me, I'm certain she did. But how? What did I do? Come on, do it again."

Starscream tried to do what he did before, while continuously saying Skywarp's name, but the black femme didn't respond again. She just finished blowtorching the last leg of the journey (literally) and looked back as a group of Seekers arrived with a casket, and some others arrived with several shovels. Skywarp rose up and gazed at her work with Starscream's body.

"Pretty nice job, if I must say so myself," she said with a smile. "Of course, he would have been prettier with a head, but whatever."

Giving up on his attempt to get Skywarp to hear him, Starscream instead turned his attention to his body as well. He had to admit, Skywarp had really done a good job at putting him back together. It looked as if he had never been apart. Well, aside from the missing head, of course, but other than that he was completely intact.

"This will do nicely," Starscream said with a smirk. "Once I find my head, I will get Skywarp to put it back on, and then I will be able to return."

"When's the ceremony?" one of the Seekers asked, drawing Starscream's attention.

"When the sun touches the horizon," Skywarp explained and looked at Hadeen. "Which isn't long now. Have you informed everyone of it?"

"Yes, Commander," the black Seeker from before said. "They all said they will be here by then."

Skywarp looked between the casket and Starscream's body. "Then let us place him inside," she said.

Two Seekers lifted Starscream's body under the wings and by the ankles, while another two held up the arms, carefully moving him over into the casket, which was wider at the top than the bottom, specially made for Fliers. They slowly and carefully lowered Starscream's body into the casket, making sure not to scrape against the sides. Starscream felt almost touched by how gentle and respectful they were to his body. Those who weren't lifting had sorrowful looks on their faces. They seemed genuinely sad by his death, even after everything everyone had said to them about him.

"They are treating me as they should," Starscream said to himself. "I was their leader. I _am_ their leader, still. They just don't know it. They _better_ treat me with respect, or they will meet a gruesome end. At least now they may meet a _less_ gruesome end."

After having placed Starscream's body into the casket, some of the Seekers took a shovel each and started digging a hole in the ground, forming a pile of soft metal next to it. Another Seeker was preparing a gravestone.

"Maybe we should build a statue of him as well," a lavender Seeker suggested. "Or at least make a holographic monument. He _was_ the Winglord of Vos, after all. Even if he also tried to destroy the universe."

"You're right, Hotlink," Skywarp replied. "The future generations of Vos deserve to know who led us in the past, no matter if they were good rulers or bad ones."

Starscream squinted at Skywarp, unsure what to make of that. "Are you calling me a good ruler or a bad one?" he asked skeptically. "No matter. You still have to die in the end. I will kill you as one of the last ones, only because you can be of use to me, Skywarp."

Starscream hovered around above the Seekers' heads as they prepared for the ceremony. As Hadeen descended towards the horizon, the hole for the grave got dug deeper, and more Seekers began to arrive at the cemetery. Starscream was surprised by the number of Seekers attending his funeral. There were too many to count them all, even with all the time Starscream now had as a ghost, but there seemed to be more than sixty Seekers present. Admittedly, it was only a handful of them that he actually knew the names of. They all sported the same body-type, because it was the one body that everyone seemed to like. They had all been Fliers when they emerged from the Well of All Sparks, but they all changed into the same body soon after, especially as they became Seekers and part of Starscream's army.

Starscream had never changed his body after emerging from the Well. He had found himself born in the perfect body already, so why change it? The Seeker body everyone else sported was only the second-best Flier body and much easier to make than Starscream's own body. At least that made him easy to distinguish in the sea of identical bots, some only different by head type and color scheme.

As Hadeen began setting, it seemed as if all of Vos was attending the funeral. The Seekers had finished digging the hole, those who had handled Starscream's body had placed his hands onto his torso, intertwining his fingers so he lay in a peaceful way. There wasn't much they could do about the missing head though, so they just left it as it was. The gravestone had been finished and engraved, with the approximate date of creation and the date of death. There were presumably also etched some words describing how he was like onto it, but currently the crafter was holding the stone against himself, making Starscream and everyone else unable to see what had been written down on it. Starscream imagined it would be something about his bitterness or his many failures, so he wasn't really looking forward to that.

While it would have been logical to just leave the ceremony, now that he knew where his body was and that it was safe, Starscream wanted to stay behind and watch the funeral. As much as he had the feeling he wasn't going to like what was coming, he was still curious to know what his former subordinates thought of him, now that they believed he wouldn't hear them anymore. If only they knew his very Spark was flying among them in that very moment.

As everyone seemed to have been assembled at the cemetery, Skywarp stood in front of the crowd, with only a pair of Seekers by her side and four others standing by the still-open casket with Starscream's body in it. Skywarp gazed around at the huge crowd of Vos. She seemed a bit nervous. She wasn't holding any datapads. Starscream wondered if she had a speech prepared or if she was just going to improvise. He guessed the latter, considering the lack of datapads.

Skywarp closed her optics, took in a deep vent, and then exhaled slowly. She then opened her optics slowly again and looked calmly at the crowd.

"You all know why we're gathered here today," Skywarp began. "Cause why else would you be here? We are all gathered here today, because the unthinkable has happened. Unthinkable, yet inevitable, I guess. Last night, as you all witnessed, but which I guess none of you believed until now..."

Skywarp paused and took in another deep vent. "Last night, Lord Starscream died," she said. "And this morning, his body was found by the Autobots in Iacon City."

The crowd shared unreadable gazes with each other, a few of them whispering. Starscream was slightly taken aback by Skywarp's addressing of him as 'Lord' instead of 'Commander'. Or even just 'Starscream'. He had not been called that for millions of years. It certainly piqued Starscream's interest enough to keep his attention on Skywarp's speech.

"Yeah, I know," Skywarp said, as the crowd silenced and turned their attention back to her. "I was surprised too. Starscream... never seemed like the type to just die, you know? He wasn't like the rest of us. He was strong, fast, elusive. He was a survivor. He was at the frontlines in this ridiculously long war, but he never bit the dust. He fell, but he never stayed down. He always rose back up again, and he fought back. Whether it was against Autobots, or Megatron."

Skywarp fell silent for a moment, to gather her thoughts and to let the words she had just spoken sink into the crowd. Starscream sat in the air close to Skywarp and his casket, so he could better hear her. Her next words took him by surprise.

"Starscream was a good leader," Skywarp continued. "A great leader, even. Not just to the Seekers, but to Vos as a whole. I mean, yeah, the whole thing with Vos and Tarn blowing each other up in the end wasn't so good, but it was a tense time back then. Starscream always tried his best for Vos and for us Seekers. I know he did. Ever since the death of Winglord Skyquake and Air Commander Dreadwing, Starscream tried his best to lead us and to make Vos a better place. Heck, he even went against Sunstorm, his own _brother_ , when he turned out to be too nuts to be Winglord. Starscream was the first to be both Winglord _and_ Air Commander at the same time. And he did pretty well, considering he was all on his own. He tried to be a good leader, and overall he was, don't you agree?"

There were a few murmurs, but mostly nodding among the sea of Seekers. Starscream listened intently to Skywarp's speech. It was true, leadership of Vos used to have been divided among two: the Winglord and the Air Commander. The Air Commander took command of the military, which was the Seekers, while the Winglord took care of the politics, peace and negotiations and making laws for the community. Skyquake and Dreadwing had been the previous Winglord and Air Commander, and they had also been Spark Twins. They had both been powerful, fast, smart and skilled in each their own occupation, and greatly respected by the citizens of Vos.

One night, however, terrorists had invaded Vos and succeeded in assassinating Skyquake. Dreadwing launched a counterattack and succeeded in defeating the terrorists, but unfortunately he lost his life in the battle. The terrorists had planted a bomb that was going to blow up most of Vos and take out its citizens with it. To prevent that from happening, Dreadwing had taken the bomb with him to the sky until it got out of range of Vos, before it blew up and took him down with it. Both leaders got statues made of them for their leadership and heroic acts. Those statues got destroyed along with the rest of Vos at the beginning of the war.

Naturally, as Starscream and Sunstorm had been appointed the new leaders of Vos and the Seekers, they felt a heavy pressure on them. They had both been captains in the Seeker army, both had been powerful, fast, skilled and smart, both had been valid candidates for taking over the leader posts. Starscream had been deemed better at commanding the troops, thus appointing him as the new Air Commander, while Sunstorm had been a better speaker and more polite than his twin. As a result, Sunstorm got appointed the new Winglord.

Only, as the next few years passed, it turned out Sunstorm wasn't as fit for a leader position as everyone had thought. He was incredibly religious and had decided to base all laws in Vos on Primus' teachings, which wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the fact that he delivered harsh punishments to those who went back on the religious laws. His mind had been unstable, and it wasn't the only thing; Sunstorm had been created with a very dangerous ability, radioactive flames that destroyed surrounding machinery and disrupted weaponry and other mechanics, not to mention burning anything that touched him to crisp. These flames would go out of control whenever he got angry or otherwise emotionally unstable. Some had even heard him planning a crusade against the other city-states, which could have brought Vos into war.

Sunstorm had only been Winglord for a couple of decades before Starscream decided he had had enough. He arranged a coup against his own brother and overthrew him, taking the throne for himself and exiled Sunstorm to the wilderness of Cybertron. He had been dangerous and had to be sent away from civilization. It had been a difficult choice, but Starscream had done it for the sake of Vos (and for his ambition for greater power). At first, Starscream had found it difficult to manage being both a military commander _and_ a politician, but he soon learned that he too had a silver tongue and actually excelled at politics, just as he did in the military field.

He had not seen Sunstorm since long before the war started. He wondered if Sunstorm knew Starscream was dead? Probably, as Spark Twins could feel each other's pain if the other died or was near death, at least as far as information had been documented. Starscream gazed over the sea of Seekers. He couldn't spot any well-known golden and white frame, with or without flames. He could see Ion Storm somewhere in the front of the crowd, but Sunstorm was easy to recognize. He was the only other Seeker to share Starscream's frame, after all. He would stand out.

Skywarp continued her speech after a while, and Starscream continued listening.

"It's easy to forget everything he's done for us," Skywarp continued. "Starscream may not have been the... best bot in the universe. He wasn't really all that nice, I can admit that. He was a liar, a deceiver, greedy and sometimes pretty mean."

Starscream scowled at Skywarp for the negative words, even though they were kind of expected.

"But hey, 65 million years of war will do that to you, right?" she continued. "I don't know, it might have been even longer than that. Like I said, this war went on for way too long. It's taken a toll on all of us, but especially on Starscream. I watched it happen to him. Slowly, subtly, he began deteriorating, especially after Vos fell and we all joined Megatron's forces. He slowly became more bitter, distant, reclusive. Those few friends he had before the war fell away from him. In the end, he only had us. The Seekers. His people. The remains of Vos."

Skywarp held another pause to let her words sink in. Starscream stared intently at her. He didn't know Skywarp was this good at speaking. Perhaps all the time spent leading the Seekers on Cybertron as captain had made her mature a bit after all.

"In the end, the pressure became too much for him," Skywarp continued, then silenced for a moment before moving on. "When the Nemesis returned to Cybertron several decades ago, I was told that Starscream had gone mad and tried to terminate everyone, using the power of the AllSpark. He believed it was the only way to end the war for good. And, as some of you know, a large portion of the Seekers stationed on the planet Earth never returned. One of them being my old Trinemate, Thundercracker. They... they believe that Starscream took their Sparks before facing the Autobots and Decepticons."

Skywarp paused again, but this time in an attempt to keep her emotions under control. Starscream noticed a few other Seekers seemed to struggle themselves, one of them being Ion Storm. She had been Trinemates with both Acid Storm and Nova Storm, both of who died on Earth. He also spotted Dirge and Ramjet, fighting to keep the tears back. They had been friends with Thrust, who had also met his end by Starscream's hands. He hadn't been a Conehead, but had seriously considered becoming one, only due to his friendship with the two others. Now, though, he would never get that chance.

"But they managed to stop him, before he could do any more damage," Skywarp continued after a while, having regained control of her voice. "And the Autobots took him prisoner, as Megatron reported when the Nemesis returned here to Cybertron. I had hoped the Autobots would bring home with them, so we could help him."

Skywarp silenced for a moment before a smile appeared on her face. "I know what you're thinking," she continued. "How can I be standing here and talk all mighty and well about the same bot who terminated my closest friend? Several of your friends, too, even."

She silenced again and briefly gazed at the many faces, which remained focused on her, waiting for her to continue. Starscream too was curious about what she was going to say next.

"Well, because he wasn't always like that, you know?" Skywarp continued after a while. "Despite how long and tragic this war has been, despite how bitter and mad he was becoming, Starscream never took it out on us. He never treated us badly, neither before the war or during it. He always cared about us before anyone else, maybe with the exception of himself, of course. But he cared about us, you know? He didn't give a scrap about Megatron or most of the other Decepticons, but he always seemed worried how we Seekers would react when he was being humiliated or hurt. He cared about our opinion of him, I know he did. He cared about our lives, at least before he went insane. And who knows, maybe he still did after he lost his mind. We'll never know now."

Skywarp took another moment to pause, to collect her thoughts and to keep her emotions under control. The crowd had something to think about now, as did Starscream. Now that he thought about it, Skywarp was right. He had always been worried about being a good leader of Vos and to the Seekers, he had wanted to be the best leader and lead his people into a better future.

He hadn't thought much about it, but now he recalled some of his times with his Seekers. He couldn't remember a single time where he abused any of them, not like how Megatron had done with him. He had given Slipstream a beating back in the missile silo on Earth, but that had only been to stop her from taking the AllSpark and disrupt his plans. And he had only punched her twice, and after he had asserted his dominance, he had kindly helped her back onto her feet and allowed her to return to the other Seekers. The action had seemed to take the femme by surprise, but perhaps she had grown used to the sight of how Megatron treated his soldiers, Starscream included, and thought that Starscream was going to follow in his master's footsteps. How wrong she had been.

Also, despite having been appointed the new leader of the Seekers by Megatron, Slipstream had very easily given up her post once she learned Starscream was still alive. In the end, as long as Starscream had been alive, his command of the Seekers was still in place, and whatever Megatron had said was invalid. Every Seeker had been so excited to see their leader back, but only Slipstream knew something was wrong, and she had been the only one to be smart enough to flee. Not that it had made a difference, as she ended up dying anyway.

"If only the Autobots hadn't been so careless, maybe he wouldn't have escaped the Ark," Skywarp continued, now finding it harder to control her voice. "Then maybe he wouldn't have been caught by the Quintessons, and then maybe this whole mess wouldn't have happened. And... then... maybe we wouldn't have had to bury him today..."

Skywarp vented deeply several times, struggling to keep her emotions in check. Some of the Seekers in the crowd seemed to be about to lose themselves too.

"At least... he's not in pain anymore," Skywarp continued. "He's at peace now. Ironic, huh? After millions of years of war, surviving through the worst times. The war finally ended, and then he goes and gets himself killed by aliens. To think that he survived this long, painful war, only to die when it's over..."

Skywarp couldn't keep it up much longer, Starscream could see. Any moment now, the flood gates would open.

"The least we can do... is to give him a proper ending," Skywarp said, struggling to keep her voice loud and clear. "Now... if any of you wish to say goodbye to him before the burial... now's the time."

The crowd gazed among each other, seeming uncertain what to do. Skywarp intertwined her fingers and looked down, seemingly finished with her speech. Starscream assumed she only ended it there because she couldn't go on any longer without losing herself to her emotions. For a long time, nothing happened, and Starscream began to think no one would dare go up to see his headless body, to spare themselves the horror show and the stage fright some of them might have.

But then, one of the Seekers slowly, hesitantly stepped forward. It was Hotlink, Starscream recognized the purple Seeker as. Once she had set in motion, she walked determined over to the casket and gazed into it. It seemed to irk her a bit that there was no head, but otherwise she seemed calm. Starscream decided to stand down next to the casket so he could hear what she had to say.

"It's been an honor, serving as your engineer, Starscream," Hotlink said quietly. "There were so many things I wanted to show you once you returned to Cybertron. I upgraded my flamethrower, so it's now even bigger than before. I wanted to make you one too..." She fell silent for a moment. "Rest in peace, Lord Starscream."

Hotlink nodded at the lifeless body and turned back to the crowd, having said her goodbyes. Skywarp gazed down at the crowd, to see if anyone else was going to go.

Soon, a teal Seeker stepped forward and made his way up to the casket. It was Bitstream, one of Hotlink's Trinemates. He gazed down at the headless body but didn't seem as irked as Hotlink had been.

"Yeah, like Hotlink said, it's been an honor," Bitstream said lowly with a hint of a smile. "I hope I was useful to you while you were alive. There aren't a lotta Seekers with my skills, as a hacker, you know. I hope I was as good to you as Soundwave was to Megatron, I guess. Well, hope you're at peace now, big guy."

After that, Bitstream nodded and walked back to the crowd, standing next to Hotlink. After a few seconds of hesitation, another Seeker made his way out of the crowd, a dark blue, red and white Seeker with a red face and yellow eyes. It was Nacelle, Hotlink's other Trinemate. He seemed nervous to stand alone, out from the safety of the crowd, but nonetheless made his way to the casket and looked down at the headless body in horror.

"Lord Starscream," Nacelle began with hesitation. "I can't believe you're gone. I never got to show you how good I am as a Seeker. I wanted to be like you, strong, skilled and... well, noticed. I wanted to prove to you that I'm just as good a Seeker as the elites. If only I had had the courage to try while you still lived... just goes to show that life's too short, huh? You'd think 65 million years was a long time, but, well..." Nacelle sighed. "Goodbye, Lord Starscream."

Nacelle nodded his goodbye and turned back to the crowd, to rejoin his Trinemates. Starscream stared after them and gazed among the crowd. Would anyone else step up and speak?

Almost as soon as the thought struck, Ion Storm stepped forward, her piercingly orange and yellow frame standing out like neon. She made her way to the casket but didn't seem irked at all by the headless body. Her face was strangely blank.

"I miss Acid Storm and Nova Storm," Ion Storm began. "I was upset to know that you had killed them both. But... there's nothing to do about that now. I don't blame you for losing your mind. Any of us would have done the same in your position, I'm sure. At least they're all at peace now. I hope you are as well."

With that, Ion Storm turned around and walked back, but without offering a nod like the rest had. Starscream frowned after her. It seemed she was still bearing a grudge.

"Who cares," Starscream grumbled. "You're all going to die anyway."

Another Seeker stepped up to the casket, this time being an almost solid red Seeker with black detailing and yellow eyes. Red Wing, one of the younger and more lax Seekers, one of the last to emerge from the Well of All Sparks before the AllSpark was launched into space. Few Seekers were as red as him, perhaps with the exception of Thrust, who had actually looked a lot like him. Other than his looks and a few powerful guns, there wasn't much interesting about him though, so Starscream hadn't paid much attention to him in life.

Red Wing looked calmly down into the casket with Starscream's body and put on a small smile. "Hey there, Starscream," Red Wing said. "Rough day, huh? Having to die and everything. I was really looking forward to you coming home, 'cause, you know, it's not really the same without you. You did your best, I guess, and that's all anyone can really ask of you. Well... um... bye, I guess."

Red Wing gave a quick nod before returning to the crowd. Starscream stared after him. He wasn't sure what to think of all this.

After the first five Seekers, it seemed the rest of Vos intended to say their goodbyes to Starscream as well. One by one, they each went up to the casket and delivered a short message and a goodbye, followed by a nod before returning to the crowd and letting the next one step out. Dirge and Ramjet went up too, both talking about how they missed Thrust but assumed he had just been in the wrong time and the wrong place. They both missed the times hanging out with Starscream, like back when they had accompanied the newly arrived Windblade to a Cube game between Iacon and Polyhex.

Most of the Seekers were ones Starscream didn't know the names of. There were probably close to a hundred of them, and before Vos fell, there had been many more, thousands, actually. Starscream would never have been able to learn the names of them all, even if he tried or wanted to.

But everyone knew Starscream's name, and everyone intended to pay their respects to him and let him know that he was a good leader and that they bore no malice toward him for the Seekers' deaths. As if it hadn't been his fault, because he wasn't in his right mind, that apparently made it okay that he had just killed his own people. Because he was now dead, because he had suffered, they let him get away with murder. It wasn't right, and Starscream knew it. Then again, this was a funeral, and berating him for his mistakes wouldn't do any good, neither for him nor them. So instead, they just decided to let it go.

Despite some of the more snarky comments, like Ion Storm and Red Wing's, Starscream was surprised how sorrowful the Seekers seemed about his death. They all went up to say goodbye to him, they all spoke politely and emotionally when looking at his body, and they treated him with as much respect as they could. Skywarp remained silent while the others went up to say their regards. As the attention was off her, Starscream could spot a few droplets of coolant leave her optics. Was she crying? For him? Or for Thundercracker? Or for everything? Starscream didn't know, and he doubted she would tell him even if she knew he was there.

Hadeen sunk further below the horizon as the citizens of Vos paid their respects to their fallen leader. Starscream stayed and listened intently to every one of their goodbyes and felt his Spark clench whenever someone said something nice about him. He began to feel strangely sorrowful himself. He was touched by how loyal the Seekers remained to him, even after everything he had done, even after he had perished. He even caught several Seekers crying in the crowd, though most tried to keep their tears under control. It wasn't as bad as Dreadwing and Skyquake's funeral had been though, but then again, they had been heroes. Starscream could only have dreamed of being as great as either of them.

Starscream shook his head and collected himself. "This doesn't matter," he said to himself. "Nothing matters anymore. The only thing that does matter is the AllSpark. I must leave soon, so I can lay out a plan for what to do and find out where my head is."

By the time all the Seekers of Vos had finished saying their goodbyes, Hadeen had almost disappeared from the sky, only a small streak of light remained on the horizon. As everyone had returned to the crowd, Skywarp looked around.

"Now then," she began, having wiped away her tears and regained control of her voice and emotions. "If everyone has said what they wanted to say... let's put him to rest."

Skywarp turned to the six Seekers standing by the casket, two of them having left Skywarp's side to join with the others. They put the lid on the casket and closed it, concealing Starscream for good. They each grabbed a handle on the casket and slowly lifted it into the air. They slowly and carefully walked across the hole dug, until they could slowly and carefully lower the casket into the ground. They made sure not to bump or scrape the sides of the casket into the walls of the hole. After a while, the casket was in, and as soon as it hit the bottom, the Seekers let go of the handles and slowly rose back up. They went over to the pile of soft metal and grabbed a shovel each, and then began placing the metal soil into the hole, onto the closed casket.

While the six Seekers were covering the hole, Skywarp straightened herself and made a saluting gesture while looking at the grave. Starscream gazed from Skywarp to the rest of the crowd. A moment after she had done it, the rest of the Seekers saluted as well, almost in sync with each other. They remained in their saluting position and remained silent as the grave was getting filled. Even the Seeker holding the gravestone shifted the weight of the stone on the left arm so she could salute with the right one.

Again Starscream felt perplexed over their respect and loyalty toward him. He knew he had always had his Seekers behind him, but he had never realized just how much they looked up to him. He was beginning to feel bad about dying and not being able to do anything now, not that it was his fault that he was in this state, that is. He soon shook his head again, disregarding these pointless thoughts and feelings.

By the time the grave had been completely filled, Hadeen had set, disappearing completely under the horizon, covering the land and ruins in darkness. Now, the only light came from the stars, the twin moons and the bio-lights and optics from the Seekers' own bodies. The Seekers flattened out the top soil and then stepped away from the grave to give their own salutes as well. Now, the Seeker holding the gravestone stepped forward and turned the engravings out, planting the stone in front of the grave. Afterwards, she stepped back and resumed her salute, everyone holding a minute's silence.

Starscream went over to the gravestone and looked at it. It was hard to read because of the darkness, but thanks to an apparently good ghost vision, he managed to make out what it said.

_Rest In Peace_

_Starscream_

_Beloved Winglord and Air Commander._

_He was his own worst enemy._

Starscream stared at the engravings. "My own worst enemy?" he repeated skeptically. "What's that supposed to mean? My worst enemy is Megatron, everyone knows that!"

Starscream scoffed and backed away from his grave. Soon, everyone lowered their arms, and Skywarp turned back to the crowd.

"You've all done a great job today," she said aloud, now calm again. "Rest up for tonight, and we'll continue working tomorrow."

The crowd dispersed, and the Seekers disappeared back into the city. Most of them seemed to head over to the city hall, as it was the most restored building so far. Some took off in flight, perhaps to rest in another city, while others yet continued to work a little longer. Skywarp herself turned back to the grave, while her seven assistants had taken off into the city and left her alone. She had a sorrowful look on her face as he gazed at the grave and the tombstone.

"I'll miss you, Starscream," Skywarp said quietly. "Hopefully your next life will be less painful. Goodbye, old friend."

With a long nod, Skywarp reluctantly turned away from the grave and left the cemetery, heading back into the city. Starscream remained behind. He looked between the ruins of Vos and his own grave, then at the two bright moons on the night sky.

"Don't worry, dear Skywarp," Starscream said quietly as he ascended into the sky. "There will soon be no more pain. Not for me, not for you, not for anyone else."

Without looking back, Starscream left the cemetery, left Vos itself, and set out into the wilderness.

"My loyal subjects do not deserve to suffer through another war," Starscream mused to himself. "They will be the first to join the AllSpark, once I return to life."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue "Leave Out All The Rest" by Linkin Park.


End file.
